From: liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
      
   Cursitor Doom  wrote:   
      
   > On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:21:16 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
   > (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:   
   >   
   > >Cursitor Doom  wrote:   
   > >   
   > >> On Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:54:45 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
   > >> (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:   
   > >   
   > >[...]   
   > >   
   > >> >Just a minor point:   
   > >> >It doesn't look as though there will be room for the capacitor inside   
   > >> >the plug where it will be screened, so the capacitor needs to be at the   
   > >> >tip of the probe with the resistor between it and the cable end.  This   
   > >> >is so that the resistor attenuates any stray signals picked up by the   
   > >> >capacitor.  If the capacitor were on the amplifier side of the resistor,   
   > >> >anything it picked up from the mains or the proximity of your hand,   
   > >> >acting like an aerial, would be fully amplified.   
   > >>   
   > >> A fine but important point there! We often think 'stuff in series' can   
   > >> go in any order, but so often there are exceptions due to unexpected   
   > >> effects which must be allowed for. I do have some more suitable   
   > >> sub-min 10n caps which would be much easier to shield. I'll use those   
   > >> on the Mk II version. :-)   
   > >   
   > >Make sure it has a high enough voltage rating if you ever want to   
   > >fault-find valve equipment.   
   > >   
   > >[...]   
   > >> >> I also made another discovery about the possible cause of the varying   
   > >> >> speed. It turns out that if the machine isn't placed in one of the   
   > >> >> neutral positions on the speed selector dial when stored, then the   
   > >> >> rubber belt around the drive wheel will be under pressure from the   
   > >> >> pinion it butts up against, causing a flat spot. Bizarrely, there's NO   
   > >> >> mention of this in  the owner's handbook! It does say that the machine   
   > >> >> should not be left unattended for long periods switched off with the   
   > >> >> 'play' key left depressed, but that's pretty much common sense. I only   
   > >> >> became aware of the importance of the neutral switch position from   
   > >> >> reading some guy's comment he'd left under a Youtube video of someone   
   > >> >> demonstrating this deck. Consequently, I'd been leaving the machine in   
   > >> >> this state when unused and I would put money that previous owners have   
   > >> >> done the same thing during their ownership too. So there may well be   
   > >> >> multiple depressions on that belt as a result. I'll check on Sunday   
   > >> >> when I next get the lid off. Hopefully if the material's reslient   
   > >> >> enough, it may recover in time.....   
   > >> >   
   > >> >Tht is very important and will account for 'hiccupy' speed veriations.   
   > >> >I seem to remember my Uhers needed to be put into the 'neutral' position   
   > >> >to switch off the motor, so the user was unlikely to forget, as they   
   > >> >were acutely aware of the need to conserve battery power on location.   
   > >> >If yours has only been used on a mains adaptor, I can see how the   
   > >> >misunderstanding could have occurred.   
   > >>   
   > >> There's no give away 'feel' to it like when you release the 'play' key   
   > >> you can sense the tension coming off. That doesn't happen with that   
   > >> knob at all.   
   > >   
   > >The speed selector is a very counter-intuitive thing to operste, it   
   > >doesn't make sense until you look inside and see what they are trying to   
   > >do with it and how it controls the positioning of the cross-shaft.   
   > >Another thing that isn't obvious is that it has a locking mechanism (at   
   > >least in some models): if the knob is turned through 90 degrees, the   
   > >speed selector can't be moved.  There is a line marked on the face of   
   > >the knob but it isn't at all obvious what it means.  I assume this is to   
   > >prevent the motor being accidentally turned on by catching on the   
   > >reporter's sleeve when using it on the shoulder strap.   
   > >   
   > >   
   > >> Now I have to ask: how and where did you learn all this stuff?   
   > >   
   > >I'm very old, so I have had a long time to learn it.   
   > >   
   > >>You're   
   > >> clearly an expert in this field whether you acknowledge it or not and   
   > >> there are vanishingly few women who go down such a technical pathway,   
   > >> certainly not in the 'old days' at any rate! Did you experience   
   > >> discrimination on account of it? Must have been bloody difficult in an   
   > >> all-male environment.   
   > >   
   > >It's more complicated than that: I spent most of my life trying to act   
   > >like a man and only recently realised I had been a  transwoman all   
   > >along.  This meant that I didn't experience the same obstacles a woman   
   > >would have met but, instead, I was constantly bullied for not being   
   > >'manly' enough.  Luckily my two parallel careers were in electronics and   
   > >biology, biology has always been open to women - and to men with a more   
   > >feminine outlook on life.  Electronics was very mysogenistic to start   
   > >with but is becoming more woman-friendly now.  My local radio club has   
   > >three husband-and-wife pairs of licenced radio amateurs.  Most of the   
   > >other clubs in this area have at least one open transwoman and some have   
   > >a few others still "in the closet" - those statistics would be a good   
   > >research project for someone.   This is a far cry from the early 1950s,   
   > >when Jean Walton had to change her name and persona to John Walton   
   > >before Decca would treat her/his electronics and mechanical design   
   > >abilities seriously.   
   > >   
   > >I first worked in marine radio design but, when I left that, my main day   
   > >job became biology.  I continued to have electronics as my hobby and   
   > >worked as a sub-contractor to the (UK) National Sound Archive in my   
   > >evenings and weekends.   
   > >   
   > >Because I was running the sound recording job on a shoestring, I could   
   > >only afford to equip the 'studio' (a bench across the bay window in the   
   > >front room) with equipment that had been sold at scrap prices - but my   
   > >work had to meet full professional specification.  This meant I had to   
   > >learn, very quickly, how to rebuild knackered bits of kit back to   
   > >factory specification and calibrate them to the satisfaction of my   
   > >N.S.A. boss, who was extremely helpful but a stickler for accuracy.   
   > >   
   > >He was a BBC-trained studio manager and recording engineer from the days   
   > >when discs were the main medium and he had built his own recording   
   > >studio from scratch (with a home-made recording lathe).  He acted as my   
   > >mentor and most of what I now know in the audio field can be traced back   
   > >to his teaching.   
   > >   
   > >Nowadays the first question most people ask, when presented with a   
   > >problem, is "what can I buy that will do the job for me".  I am still of   
   > >the old school that asks "What have I got that can be adapted to do the   
   > >job?  ...and if I haven't got anything, can I make something?"   
   >   
   > Well, as a right-of-center Libertarian I fully support your choice.   
      
   Being transgender isn't a choice - the only choice I have is what I do   
   about it.  Do I go around feeling permanently ill at ease with myself   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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